Jo Pratt's Potted Prawns and Crab

These little pots of juicy prawns and sweet crabmeat in a delicate, dill-flavoured butter are perfect for a beach picnic. Spread over some rye or crusty bread for a light, tasty nibble, so says Jo Pratt from the Mail online and we have just got to agree with her and you do not need to change on bit of this recipe it is so tasty as it is just scrumptious!!

Last year we had these as a treat for Christmas Boxing day actually they went well as a starter and we will probably have them again this year maybe as a light lunch.

Serves / Makes: 2 servings
Prep-Time: 10 minutes plus 1 hour to chill

YOU WILL NEED

75 grams, unsalted butter
100 grams, cooked and peeled small Atlantic prawns
100 grams, white crabmeat (preferably fresh but frozen or tinned is fine)
1 teaspoon chopped dill
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
Sea salt
Cayenne pepper
Rye or crusty brown bread

METHOD
Gently melt the butter in a saucepan and pour into a jug for all the milky solids to sink to the bottom.
Mix together the prawns, crab, dill and lemon zest and season with salt and a shake of cayenne pepper divide between a couple of small pots or ramekins and pack down really well with the back of a spoon.
Pour over the clear (clarified) butter to just cover the mixture, leaving behind the milky solids. Chill in the fridge for about 45 minutes to set the butter.
Cover each pot with cling-film and pack in a cool bag with your chosen bread. Don’t forget some napkins and a couple of knives to scoop out, spread the potted prawns, and crab on to the bread.
Serve and Enjoy!

NOTES
Read more see Jo Pratt on the Mail Online

Jo Pratt is a regular face on Market Kitchen cooking delicious no-fuss recipes.
Jo graduated in July 1995 from Liverpool John Moores University with a BA honours degree in Home Economics. She went on to work with Gary Rhodes at the BBC Good Food Show in November 1996, before becoming the main home economist for all his series and books.
 
Jo has worked with many other celebrity chefs including Ainsley Harriot, Anthony Worrall Thompson, Jamie Oliver, Tony Tobin and Brian Turner on various television, demonstrations and photography projects, readers of Elle magazine will be familiar with her monthly food column, Elle's Kitchen. She co-wrote The Nation's Favourite Food in 2003, and provided the recipes for dishes voted for by the British public to accompany the eponymous titled TV series. This year, Jo published her new book “In the Mood for Food”.

These Two Books Written by Jo Make The Perfect Christmas Gift 

 

Related articles

• Crab and Seafood One Pot (notecook.com)
• The Kitchen Thinker: Potted food (telegraph.co.uk)

Crab and Leek Tart

A rich indulgent tart flavoured with sweet white crab meat, herbs, and saffron, served as a starter or a lunch or supper dish and a magnificent dish to serve over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
This was a success at the Great Tree Hotel, Chagford and later on at the Bowd Inn, Sidmouth with the summer visitors to Sidmouth and Devon in general, we always made it with seasonal brown crab that was caught locally, our supplier in Sidmouth was Stan Bagwell, and I believe he is still supplying fresh fish and seafood to everyone.

Serves / Makes: 4 to 6 depends on who is a gannet

Prep-Time: 10 to 15 minutes

Cook-Time: 50 minutes

YOU WILL NEED;

For The Pastry
200 grams, plain flour
¼ teaspoon, sea salt
¼ teaspoon, cayenne pepper
50 grams unsalted, butter
50 grams, lard (this helps to make the pastry very elastic, essential for a good savoury pie)
25 grams, mature cheddar cheese, grated
1, egg yolk

For The Filling
25 grams, unsalted butter
225 grams, leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon, saffron strands
300 grams, white crab meat
3 medium, eggs
2 teaspoons, lemon juice
1 or 2 dashes, of Worcestershire sauce
125mls, double cream
Small handful snipped chives
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

METHOD;
For the pastry, sift the flour, salt, and cayenne pepper into a mixing bowl, rub in the butter and lard until the mixture is crumbly, mix in the cheese, then bind the pastry with the egg yolk and little cold water.
Leave the pastry to rest for 30 minutes roll out and line a non-stick baking tin
Preheat the oven to 190°C / gas mark 5, line the pastry case with greaseproof paper and fill with baking peas or some dried pulses if you don’t have the ceramic peas.
Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, remove the paper and peas, and return to the oven for a further 5 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Now prepare the filling, melt the butter in a frying pan and sauté the leeks for 5 minutes until they are softened but not browned.
Stir in the saffron, allow to cool then turn into a mixing bowl, fold in the remaining filling ingredients and season well, spoon into the cooked pastry case and bake in the hot oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Notes:
We serve this hot or cold, crusty bread and a mixed salad dressed with a Sherry Vinegar Dressing

Sherry Vinegar Dressing
Just A Superb Dressing, Need I Say Anything More

Serves/Makes: 2 servings
Prep-Time: 10 minutes
Cook-Time: nothing

You Will Need;

1 tablespoon, sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon, walnut oil
1 tablespoon, garlic flavoured olive oil
The juice from half a lemon, about 2 tablespoons
½ teaspoon, sugar
A pinch of sea salt
Freshly grated black pepper

Method:
Whisk all the ingredients in a bowl until they thicken slightly drizzle over your salad and serve

Related articles

• Recipe: Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

What’s in Season for the Month of July

Eating seasonally and when possible locally, suggests eating food that is at its prime in terms of taste and nutritional contents, while at the same time cutting down on those food miles.
Every month, I hope to publish on my blog a guide to what's in season the main points are going to be about fresh and locally produced (specifically British) foodstuffs and what we are producing ourselves on the balcony.

To me July means long warm lazy days spent outside having picnics or barbeques, the variety and quality of the fresh food available, from home grown produce to the imported foods are simply the best.
The salad leaves such as lamb’s lettuce, lollo rosso, oak leaf lettuce, curly endive and frisee, is wonderful simply served with a little lemon juice and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, or do as I do mix extra virgin olive oil with a little walnut oil for an extra special taste.
At their peak this month are carrots, fresh peas, fennel, lettuce, spinach, summer cabbage, salad onions and artichokes. While corn on the cob is just coming in from the Isle of Wight, plum tomatoes are now becoming quite flavoursome as are runner beans, beetroots and cauliflowers.
As for the fruits, strawberries, raspberries, all the currants and apricots are just about at their best.

Fruit at Its Best
Apricots, Blueberries, Cherries, Elderflowers, Gooseberries, Cantaloupe Melons, Raspberries, Strawberries, Blackcurrants, Plums, Redcurrants

Vegetables at Their Best
Artichokes, Globe Artichokes, Broad Beans, Aubergines, Courgettes, Cauliflower, Fennel, Mange tout, Onions, New Potatoes, Peas, Radishes, Runner beans, Spring Onions, Turnips, Watercress, Cucumbers, Kohlrabi, Salad leaves, Romaine Lettuce, Rocket, Samphire, Pak Choi, Spinach, Beetroot, Green Beans

Herbs etc at Their Best
Basil, Chervil, Chives, Coriander, Dill, Elderflowers, Mint, Nasturtium, Oregano, Parsley (Curly), Parsley (Flat-Leaf), Rosemary, Sage, Sorrel, Tarragon

Meat at Its Peak
Beef, Chicken, Lamb, Pork, Rabbit, Wood Pigeon

Fish and Seafood at Its Best

Mackerel is plentiful, not expensive and yummy, and perfect for the barbecue, as is the Cornish Sardines, Cod, Pollack, Crab, Dover Sole, Haddock, Halibut, Herring, John Dory, Lemon Sole, Lobster, Plaice, Salmon, Sardines, Sea Bass, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Sea Tout, Grey Mullet

Sonny’s Fruit and Veg Stall

(Tachbrook Street Market)

  

The Family Have Had A Stall On The Market For 80 Years Now And They Believe Very Strongly In Supplying The Best Quality Produce That Is In Season And At Its Best.

They Only Buy British Produce When Possible And In Season, And They Always Seem To Be The First To Obtain Fantastic British Produce Such As Jersey Royal Potatoes (They Still Have Some Now But Be Quick I Can’t See Them Lasting Long Before They Sell Out), Asparagus, Soft Fruits And Lovely Leafy Greens.

When Visiting Look Out For Artichokes, Globe Artichokes, Broad Beans, Aubergines, Courgettes, Cauliflower, Fennel, Mange Tout, Onions, New Potatoes, Peas, Radishes, Runner Beans, Spring Onions, Turnips, Watercress, Cucumbers, Kohlrabi, Salad Leaves, Romaine Lettuce, Rocket, British Summer Cabbage, British Strawberries And Plump Juicy Mangos Along Side Sweet Red Cherries, Plums And The Most Flavoursome Apricots.

In Fact Sonny’s Have All the Fruit, Veg and Herbs You Might Want and So Much Better Than the Local Supermarket’s Offerings.

Jonathan Norris, Fishmonger of Pimlico

(Tachbrook Street Market) Telephone: 0779-907-3060

Has Been Getting In Fantastic Sweet Juicy Spider Crabs (see my notes below) , Line Caught Mackerel, Live Lobsters And Crabs, His Display As Always Is A Picture Where You Can See Gilt Head Bream, Yellow Fin Tuna, Cornish Hake, Organic Irish Salmon, Plump Lemon Sole Along With South Coast Dover Sole, And Again From Cornwall Octopus, Squid, Clams, Sardines, And Turbot. The Classics Are There Too Cod, Haddock, Pollock and Plaice As Well As One of My Favourites John Dory.

Don’t Forget You Need To Get There Early As He Sells Out Pretty Quick.

Almost All Jon’s Fish Is from around the Cornish, Devon and Scottish Coasts.

On Saturday we took the opportunity to purchase sardines and shell on prawns the prawns were plump and sweet, the sardines though were the stars of the show we had them simply grilled for dinner with a mixed salad and a few Jersey Royal potatoes, the sardines had the sweetest meat and left us wishing that we had bought more.

Spider crabs are popular in France and Spain, and the Spanish, who understand about these things, will pay more for a large Spider Crab than for a Lobster of the same weight.

Spider Crabs live in deeper water in the winter in depths of up to 120 metres, but come closer inshore in the early summer months as water temperatures increase.
This sweet-flavoured crab has no large claws and, indeed, resembles a big spider, Spider crab is one of those undiscovered seafood delights with the meat being sweet with a great texture, it can be prepared and eaten in exactly the same way as a standard brown crab, but don't assume to get quite as much white meat out of it.
You'll also need to work a little harder at getting that white meat out of the body crevices, fresh crab on toast from a spider or brown crab makes a tasty nibble, or you can serve it as a starter for a dinner party with maybe a small herb salad. I personally would recommend a sourdough rye bread here to give a nice crisp, full-flavoured base for the crab.

MY FAVOURITE WAY TO PREPARE SPIDER CRAB

• 2 spider crabs, each about 600 grams, or 1 crab, 1 kilo or more, white and brown meat extracted
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper
• 1 to 2 tablespoon, good-quality mayonnaise
• Squeeze of lemon juice, to taste
• 4 slices of bread, about 1cm thick
• Softened butter, for spreading

Season the white and brown crab separately and mix the brown meat with a little mayonnaise and lemon juice, or just mix the whole lot together if you like. Toast the bread on both sides and butter one side. If you've kept the brown and white meat separate, spread the brown on first and the white on top, or if it's mixed simply spoon on top of the toasts. Serve and Enjoy.

Try These Neat Tools for Crab and Lobster

From Our Own Little Garden on the Balcony

We Have Just Cut Mizuna, Pea Shoots, Rocket, Red And Green Leaves, Mixed Salad, Lambs Lettuce and a Good Picking of Basil to Make a Tasty Green Pesto Which Will Go Nicely With the Quick and Easy Mediterranean Lamb
 

July’s Recipe

Mediterranean Lamb (Quick and Easy)

This dish is quick to prepare and delicious with either red or green pesto

Serves / Makes: 2 servings
Prep-Time: 2 minutes
Cook-Time: 12 minutes

• 2 lean lamb leg steaks, about 100 grams each
• 1 tablespoon, red or green pesto
• 1 whole, tomato sliced
• 1 tablespoon, fresh basil, chopped
• 50 grams, mozzarella cheese or mature cheddar

Place the lamb steaks under a pre-heated grill for 3 to 4 minutes each side, turning once, half way through the cooking time on the second side brush the pesto onto each steak and top with tomato, basil and mozzarella, continue cooking for the final 2 to 3 minutes Serve and Enjoy! With a jacket potato and mixed salad

Find more delicious ways to cook British Lamb
 

World Cup 2010 USA, Crab Cakes from Joe's Stone Crab of Miami

This is the recipe I got from a chef at Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami, Florida, these crab cakes have got to be the best I have ever tasted they are superb just served with the mustard sauce and a mixed salad. When in Palm Springs we used to have flown in monthly stone crab claws, crab cakes and Joe’s famous mustard sauce from In fact most of the celebrities who lived in an around Palm Springs did including Frank Sinatra and Kirk Douglas, rather than wait for the mail order delivery Lord Hanson used to send his jet and Malcolm the senior travel manager to go and pick up the order so the claws etc couldn’t be fresher. I have included the recipes for the mustard sauce and blackened seasoning and a few notes on the stone crabs. In this recipe I of course just use white crab meat, the claw meat of our brown crabs is great to use but can work out a little costly but these crab cakes are worth it.
The Crab Cakes
Serves / Makes: 6 servings

Prep-Time: 10 minutes

Cook-Time: 10 minutes

You Will Need;

• 2/3 cup, mayonnaise
• 5 egg, yolks
• 2 teaspoons, lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons, Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons, Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons, black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon, salt
• ¼ teaspoon, blackened seasoning (see below)
• ¼ teaspoon, crushed red chillies
• ½ cup parsley, chopped fine
• 2½ cups, fresh bread crumbs
• 2 pounds, white crab meat

Mix all ingredients together, and form into 4 ounce cakes, coat with flour and fry in one inch of oil until golden brown Serve and Enjoy!

This pan is just perfect for cooking your crab cakes

Joe’s Stone Crab Mustard Sauce
Serves 4

• 1 tablespoon, dry mustard, Joe uses Coleman’s plus ½ teaspoon
• 1 cup, mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons, Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon, steak sauce, preferably A1 sauce but in the UK we use HP sauce 
• 2 tablespoons, double cream
• 2 tablespoons, milk
• Salt, to taste

Place the dry mustard in a mixing bowl and add the mayonnaise, beat for 1 minute then add the Worcestershire sauce, A1/HP sauce, cream and milk, and a pinch of salt and beat until the mixture is well blended and creamy
If you like a more mustard bite, whisk in ½ teaspoon more dry mustard until well blended.
Cover and chill the sauce then serve in small cups with the crab cakes, cooked and cracked stone crab claws, or in the UK crab claws or almost any type of shellfish.

Blackened Seasoning for Fish, or Chicken

• 2 teaspoons, ground paprika
• 4 teaspoons, dried leaf thyme
• 2 teaspoons, onion powder
• 2 teaspoons, garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon, granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons, salt
• 2 teaspoons, black pepper
• 1 teaspoon, ground cayenne pepper, or to your taste
• 1 teaspoon, dried leaf oregano
• 3/4 teaspoon, ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon, ground nutmeg 

Place all ingredients in a jar and store in a cool dark place, shake jar well before each use.

• To cook fish etc with the seasoning, over a low heat, melt about 3 tablespoons of butter in a non-stick frying pan (enough butter to cover fish and the bottom of the pan).
• As soon as the butter is melted, place the fish in the pan, turning over it over to cover both sides with the butter and then generously coat the fish with the seasoning, turn over again and coat the other side with seasoning.
• Now turn up the heat to a medium-high and cook on one side until blackened and somewhat crispy.
• Turn over and cook the other side, add a little more butter whenever necessary.

Stone Crab (Menippe Mercenaria)
In order to assure the continued survival of the species: Only one claw may be removed so the crab can defend itself. Egg bearing females are not allowed to be declawed. The crabs are captured in baited traps. No spears or hooks are allowed. Four inches from the first joint to the tip is the minimum legal size, that's about two ounces. A colossal can weigh 25 ounces or more. The large crusher claw can exert extreme pressure. As much as 19000 lbs. per square inch. Although their massive claws serve as deterrents to most predators, fishermen have reported the stone crab falls prey to the octopus. Stone crab season in Florida runs from October 15th to May 15. Stone crabs exhibit carnivorous feeding behaviour. Sometimes in traps they resort to cannibalism! The claws make up half the weight of the whole crab; they are removed by carefully grabbing from the rear and twisting. The crab is returned to water and the claw regenerates. It takes between 12 to 24 months to reach legal size again. In 1963 stone crabs cost 30 cents a dozen wholesale.